At the Al Jaddaf Festival, which begins December 13, the Jameel Arts Center, Dubai's innovative cultural destination, is celebrating its one-year anniversary.

The festival includes many activities within the center, around the Jadaf Waterfront Art Park, and along the Corniche in Dubai's latest creative neighborhood, developed by Dubai Holding.

Jameel Arts Center offers programs and workshops open to all ages, as well as activities, markets, live music shows, and film screenings for families, children, young people and youth.

Al Jaddaf is a multi-disciplinary, community-based event that keenly connects cultural partners such as The Jam Jar, The Poetry Movements and Gulf Photo Plus, as well as the participation of prominent cultural institutions in Dubai. Such as Art Dubai, Dubai Design Week and Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.

“Al Jaddaf is a festival for all of us, families and young people of all ages, music and cinema enthusiasts, photographers, artisans, authors, poets, artists and art and culture lovers,” said Art Jameel Executive Director Antonia Carver. Celebrating the city's leading cultural events, such as Art Dubai, Dubai Design Week and Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, as well as celebrating artists, writers and craftsmen, make this city an innovative year-round destination. .

“The response to the activities of the Jameel Arts Center in its first year was remarkable, so we look forward to celebrating the first contemporary art museum in Dubai with our colleagues and with the community at large,” she added. The Jadaf Art Festival currently has more than 45 artists, and Al Jadaf will include special tours and activities for all ages at exhibitions, project libraries and project platforms throughout the museum and its garden.

Recognizing the importance of narration and stories, Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will bring together a group of UAE-based writers and poets to the Al Jaddaf Festival, to compose and present new stories inspired by works of art currently on display at Jameel Arts Center. The various interactive sessions in Arabic and English include children's and adolescent authors. Outside the exhibition area, The Poetry Movements, a local platform dedicated to creative expression of poetry, will present a poetry evening.

The Jameel Arts Center commissioned Sara Ahmed, May Ali, Bishoy Gerges, Asma Khoury, John Marsland, Khaled Mazeina, Malda Smadi, Rabab Tantawi, and Afshin Zuhaib to carry out special workshops and activities for families and young people in a range of crafts. For fans of cinema, the Jameel Arts Center offers a series of short films for all ages at Gallery 9 under the supervision of Jameel Art. The festival will host an evening by local bands on the main stage of the art park, including DXB Brass, Pink Jagger, Cell Into Night, WYWY and Flower Shop. The music coordinator specializes in Middle Eastern music.

The Al Jaddaf Festival includes an art market with kiosks for artists, designers and specialists, who offer drawings, prints, design products, handicrafts, accessories, plants, musical instruments, old books and other collectibles.

Through a special exhibition, the Dubai Autism Center will organize an auction to sell paintings by the students of the center.

• Activities are organized around the center, Jadaf Park and Waterfront Arts, in collaboration with Dubai Holding.

• Programs, workshops, markets, music and movie shows for families and children.